


Leverage, Season 1, Episode 2, The Homecoming Job

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Leverage
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s01e02 The Homecoming Job, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24315073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5





	Leverage, Season 1, Episode 2, The Homecoming Job

Open to Jake McLaughlin’s character, soldier Robert Perry, in Iraq making a video-message for his fiancée.

On the topic of Quantico, I hate the fact it ended just when the team had more-or-less become a fully functional found family unit that trusted and communicated with one another. I never particularly cared for the trust no one suspense of the first two seasons.

Back to this show, Perry and his buddy are shot down before the message is complete, but Perry made it out alive. In a hospital, he’s talking to Nate. He and his fiancée are no together, and he wants to be able to find a steady job, but what with his disability and the lack of being able to pay for proper treatment…

He also makes it clear he just wants the people who shot him to pay his bills, no more, no less.

I imagine there are some people like this in real life, but honestly, I don’t get them. If somebody shot me, I’d probably want them locked in a jail cell for the rest of their lives. Maybe, if it was truly an accident or something like severe mental illness or them being non-consensually drugged was in play, I could find it in me to forgive them, but in such a case, I’d still probably want nothing to do with them ever again.

Perry’s doctor comes over, and she’s not impressed with Nate or his promises to help Perry. The cool thing about her character, though, is she isn’t an antagonist. She and Nate butt heads, but she’s never presented as fundamentally wrong in her position or made to pay for doubting Team Leverage.

After she basically kicks Nate out, he assembles Team Leverage.

Sophie was doing terrible in an audition. There’s a funny bit where Eliot’s fighting an armed guy, and when Eliot’s phone rang, he asked whether it was his or the other guy’s; asking if it might be the other man’s mama allows him to get the upper hand. Parker was stealing from a museum.

Meanwhile, Hardison has been setting up Leverage headquarters, and Old Nate Portrait is introduced. I love Old Nate Portrait.

Eliot doesn’t want to admit he’s impressed by Hardison’s painting skills, but Parker is genuinely bouncy over the backstory Hardison gave her within the company. Aw.

It’s revealed Nate paid for the headquarters set up and donated a huge chunk of the rest of his payout to charity.

Nate comes in, and they all watch Perry’s video. Eliot shows off his analytical skills to prove private contractors rather than non-Americans shot Perry.

I could and would never be a soldier, but I think I’d have an easier time adjusting to getting shot by an enemy with the knowledge said enemy might never be brought to justice than by someone who’s supposed to be on my side getting away scot-free. Again, I would be calling for whoever shot me to have their ass in prison for life.

The next scene has them at a party. The parents are mingling, Eliot’s a waiter, and after pushing Hardison off the building, Parker and him break into an office. Someone explains to Sophie why congresspeople are the best investment corporations can make, and like Hardison, I am deeply disturbed hearing this.

The man explaining this to Sophie gets his jacket messed up by Nate, and the parents plus Eliot fuss over this. This allows them to clone something for Hardison, and then, Eliot geeks out over food in order to get the man to provide more voice sounds to allow Parker to break into his vault.

There’s a curse cut short where the man almost drops an f-bomb due to being annoyed at being given shrimp, and wow, did they cut it close.

Sophie talks to another man, and Hardison reveals Perry is under more surveillance than some known criminals are. Eee. They realise Perry’s in danger, and so, they all head to the hospital.

Sophie and Nate find Perry, and he’s respectfully appreciative of the former’s beauty. Meanwhile, Eliot is walking around in doctor getup, and Perry’s doctor is suspicious of him. Her questioning him, however, gives him time to realise two doctors who just passed him aren’t actually doctors.

Eliot, Nate, and even wheelchair-bound Perry manage to take the assassins out.

Back at headquarters, Nate is drinking. He’s got Perry in a safehouse, and they realise the assassins were going to make it look like suicide.

This being fictional, I sort of wish they’d killed the assassins. Suicide is so often a tragedy. I personally know some people who, if a loved one died ‘accidentally’ or of ‘natural’ causes or was just outright killed, of course, they’d be devastated, but if they believed a loved one died via suicide, it would shatter them on a whole different level.

Everybody but Eliot is thinking of bailing ship now on the grounds none of them save Eliot ever hurt anyone with their illegal activities, and the fact an innocent person they’ve been trying to help almost died is hard to handle.

Nate, however, is angry and impatient but realises he needs them.

They all agree they’ll finish this one but it’s the absolute last.

Sophie annoys me by declaring a man only looks a woman in the eye when he’s making the effort to lie to her, and Eliot and Hardison annoy me by agreeing with her.

Anyway, the point is, they’re going to take down the two men Sophie was schmoozing with at the party.

Sophie and Nate play divide-and-conquer with the two, and what is Nate’s accent for this con?

Well, it’ll be much worse in certain other episodes. I do think it’s interesting how Nate’s strategy 90-something percent of the time is to be as annoying with as a bizarre an accent as possible whenever he’s being a grifter.

Meanwhile, Hardison and Eliot adorably bond over making fun of how one of the men is obsessed with home renovation. Eliot goes off to cancel a mahogany wood order, and Nate appears with beer and popcorn.

Elsewhere, Parker is submitting a doctored legal document to a courtroom or voting hall or something, and Nate’s proud of his future daughter, and Hardison’s awestruck by his future wife. When he add the word ‘sexiness’ to his appreciation, though, Nate is all, ‘Hey, her future father and your future father-in-law sitting right here.’

Later, Team Leverage listens to a phone recording of the two men arguing, and Hardison has a funny line about them moving onto to having, “Whatever you call the rich guys on telephone version of makeup sex.” Then, he tells them about a container he’s traced.

Going to the container, Eliot’s ready to charge as soon as the guards step away, but stopping him, Hardison figures out what security there might be besides the guards. There’s a webcam, and he plans to handle this the geek way, but somewhat ironically channelling Tony Stark, Eliot just breaks the webcam via throwing a rock. Heh.

Inside the container, they find money, and Parker’s in love.

The security guards discovered the webcam is broken, and going to check on it, it’s shown the poly trio is hiding on a roof with Parker holding some of the money tight across her chest vampire-style.

At headquarters, it’s determined the money isn’t counterfeit. Eliot demands to know if Parker and Hardison have a creepy contest going on, and what creepy thing has Hardison done?

Nate explains money was sent for bribes in the beginning of the Iraq war, and about nine billion of said money went missing. The contractors thought Perry might have figured this out, and so, they shot him and his friend. Nate breaks down how it’s a money laundering scheme with the two men using it to corrupt politics.

The next scene has Nate and Sophie at the container yard pretending to be arguing vacationers. Parker is a construction worker, and security guard Eliot is dealing with the gripe-y congressman wanting his mahogany wood. Wearing a name-tag reading ‘White’, Hardison is not down with Parker’s plan to deal with the changed lock by blowing stuff up.

The head security guard recognises Nate, but Parker’s explosion comes in, and Team Leverage disappears. Incidentally, I really like the actor, Lee Reherman, playing the head security guard, and I'm thankful to the commenter who told me his name after I couldn't re-find him on IMDb.

Hardison is stopped in the white truck, and I really don’t think it was a good idea to have a black man driving a stolen truck in a yard full of white security guards with automatic weapons who’ve already tried to kill a white man who didn’t do anything illegal. Since this is TV, though, Hardison is not shot before he can even open the truck door.

While the two men are fighting by the destroyed container, HSG demands Hardison open the truck, and he goes on about how this is about him being Jewish, though, at first, he makes it sound as if he’s accusing them of racial profiling.

In real life, him doing this would be verging on suicidal.

Then, the news shows up to talk to the two men, and it’s revealed Team Leverage was clever like in last episode. The two are exposed. Good.

Next, Team Leverage takes the truck with a significant chunk of the money to the hospital and are all, ‘Here, Perry and Perry’s Doctor. This non-stolen money will cover your complete rehab, and the rest will help you help other patients you want to help.’

There’s a nice moment when ex-army Eliot thanks Perry for his service. The doctor is incredulous but thankful, and Nate makes it clear he recognises and respects the fact she’s helping change the world in her own way. He just wants to help change it a little more his way.

Team Leverage steps back to watch the happy scene, and Nate says anyone can walk away without him stopping them now.

No. They’re all in.

He reveals he bought an electric car, and after he drives off, everyone bonds over making fun of his mid-life crisis. Heh, and aw.

Fin.


End file.
